WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

A word about cryptolinks: We are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.

Back in November we reported on claims that the British Bigfoot
had been spotted in woodland near Tunbridge Wells.

Back in November we reported on claims that the
British Bigfoot had been spotted in woodland near Tunbridge Wells (stock image
by Flickr's JD Hancock

The story of the eight-foot tall Kentish Apeman caught the national media's
interest - with stories appearing in The Sun, Daily Mail, Metro and Telegraph - amongst many others!
Now it seems to have sparked the interest of the London Cryptozoology Club,
who went on an expedition to Tunbridge Wells earlier this month in search of the
beast.
In this blog post by Matt Salusbury, he says how a group
of members walked on the Commons trying to find the demonic-eyed monster.Read on...

A word about cryptolinks: We are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.

It's probably a fox or a cougar but it sounds like a monster. A monster that
will eat you whole. When a resident recorded the late-night sounds, the effect
was a shudder from everyone who heard it, residents told the
Oregonian.

[ Related: DNA Study says Bigfoot is real – but not so fast
]
The eerie noises that emanate from the darkness sometimes sound like screams,
at other times like low roars. Several residents, including Sylvia Minthorn,
called the local housing authority to report the sounds.
At least if something drags them off into the forest like in a horror movie,
we can't say we weren't warned.
However, local wildlife experts say animals that aren't possessed by Satan
make creepy sounds too. For example, a YouTube user uploaded this video of a fox
barking.
But Minthorn says she's heard foxes bark and the noises that keep her awake
are much different.
Residents of the area around the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington have
a lively tradition of sharing Sasquatch folklore. OregonBigFoot.com is just
one of the website's dedicated to documenting the search and naturally, selling
Bigfoot art.

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that - whereas the study of out of place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot, or lake monsters - it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean Zoologist to be interested in. So, after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo, Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.

Although I am still relatively sane after a
week of unpleasantness, we are still cursed by an internet connection so
sluggish as to be completely unusable much of the time. Richard and I spent much
of yesterday editing the latest episode of OTT which will be finished tomorrow.
Graham and Dave Curtis are still away, and as I haven't heard ow't to the
contrary I must assume that they are having a spiffing (yes, the word was
SPIFFing) time at Hawkwind in Manchester. There will be blog posts on their
adventures upon their return.

* The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If
you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk.
If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello
please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk.
Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as
possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is
viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun,
spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining.
See you tomorrow...

* The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a
daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia
group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels
like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The
Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

* We should probably mention here, that
some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we
think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in
other people's websites. Honest guv!

* Jon Downes, the Editor of all
these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with
his orange cat puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown
cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish and batrachians.
He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his
mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we
mention the orange cat?